Inspiration, ideas and information to help women build public speaking content, confidence and credibility. Denise Graveline is a Washington, DC-based speaker coach who has coached nearly 200 TEDMED and TEDx speakers--including one of 2016's most popular TED talks. She also has prepared speakers for presentations, testimony, and keynotes. She offers 1:1 coaching and group workshops in public speaking, presentation and media interview skills to both men and women.

The Parliament complex mixes modern and traditional architecture, and it will be a thrill to meet and consider improving speeches in the heart of Scottish political culture. Rodger Evans, a speechwriter who works for the Parliament, will make us welcome. Brian Jenner, head of the UK Speechwriters Guild and the European Speechwriters Network, is putting a thoughtful conference program together. The gathering follows the recent Brexit vote, and is just a couple of weeks prior to the U.S. presidential election, so there will be plenty of speechmaking to discuss.

I hope that's an extra inspiration and enticement to join us. The workshop is designed to be a hands-on workshop, and I invite you to bring a speech you're working on or have already written that lacks metaphor, so you can see what happens when you add metaphor. We'll also talk about un-mixing metaphors, metaphoric disasters and how to avoid them, and even how to test your metaphors to make sure they really work for your audience.

Metaphors are important tools, particularly when you're trying to:

shape how your audience sees your topic

explaining a detailed technical topic

use visuals in a more compelling way in your presentations and speeches.

We'll have lots of examples and exercises for you to try out so you can master this powerful tool in this powerful setting. I was delighted recently when one of my clients, a senior corporate executive, told me that the speaking skill she wanted to work on most was using metaphor--she's on the right track. If you feel the same way, this workshop is for you.

You can register here for just the workshop, the conference, or both. Registration continues until you'll get the best discount if you sign up by August 1. The workshop takes place on 20 October, and the conference day follows on 21 October.